Sports: 10 June 2006, Saturday. Bulgaria has celebrated its first-ever semi-final appearance in an Open tournament of badminton. Petya Nedelchelva downed Kanako Yonekura of Japan 21-16, 21-19 in the women's singles quarter-finals of the five-star USD 170,000 Aviva Open Singapore badminton championships at the Indoor Stadium on Friday night. "It is a big thing to reach the semi-finals. This is badminton history in Bulgaria," Nedelchelva said grinning from ear to ear out of happiness. The Bulgarian will now play Pi Hongyan of France for a place in the final.
Petya Nedelcheva, you used both her power and brains to beat Japan’s pretty Konekura, who was not really lucky for some shuttles, barely going wide or staying in the net band, yet the Bulgarian played the perfect match to enter her first Singapore Open Semi final. QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS Men’s singles: Bao Chunlai (Chn) bt Ismail Saman (Mas) 21-11, 21-11; Chen Hong (Chn) bt Muhd Hafiz Hashim (Mas) 13-21, 21-14, 21-15; Kenneth Jonassen (Den) bt Anup Sridhar (Ind) 21-15, 21-15; Peter Gade Christensen (Den) bt Ronald Susilo (Sin) 21-19, 21-16. Men’s doubles: Anthony Clark-Robert Blair (Eng) bt Jens Eriksen-Martin Lundgaard (Den)21-18, 14-21, 11-9 (rtd); Flandi Limpele-Sigit Budiarto (Ina) bt Koo Kien Keat-Chan Chong Ming (Mas) 21-12, 21-19; Jonas Rasmussen-Peter Steffensen (Den) bt Hoon Thien How-Tan Boon Heong (Mas) 21-10, 21-18; Thomas Laybourn-Lars Paaske (Den) bt Hendra Wijaya-Hendra Setiawan (Sin) 13-21, 21-12, 23-21. Women’s singles: Mia Audina (Ned) bt Chen Li (Chn) 21-17, 21-12; Pi Hongyan (Fra) bt Zhu Lin (Chn)21-18, 21-9; Lu Lan (Chn) bt Kaori Mori (Jpn) 22-20 21-18; Petya Nedelcheva (Bul) bt Kanako Yonekura (Jpn) 21-16, 21-19. Women’s doubles: Yang Wei-Zhang Jiewen (Chn) bt Jo Novita-Gresya Polii (Ina) 21-13, 21-18; Cheng Wen Hsing-Chien Yun Chin (Tpe) bt Britta Andersen-Mette Schjoldager (Den) 21-11, 21-15; Wei Yili-Zhang Yawen (Chn) bt Chin Eei Hui-Wong Pei Tty (Mas) 22-20, 21-15; Gail Emms-Donna Kellogg (Eng) bt Zhang Dan-Zhao Tingting (Chn) 21-18, 21-11. Mixed doubles: Nathan Robertson-Gail Emms (Eng) bt Zheng Bo-Zhao Tingting (Chn) 21-19, 21-19; He Hanbin-Zhang Dan (Chn) bt Robert Blair-Natalie Munt (Eng) 21-16, 21-18; Nova Widianto-Lilyana Natsir (Ina) bt Anthony Clark-Donna Kellogg (Eng) 21-15, 21-18; Muhamad Rizal-Gresya Polii (Ina) bt Tsai Chia Hsin-Cheng Wen Hsing (Tpe) 16-21, 21-15, 21-12;
